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View Full Version : tumble vs conventional lube groove



semtav
10-19-2009, 09:20 PM
Hate to show my ignorance, but could someone tell me what the difference is between a tumble and conventional lube groove?

montana_charlie
10-19-2009, 09:29 PM
The bullets meant for 'tumble lubing' are a Lee innovation.
Goto this Lee webpage and compare the appearances of various groups of bullets. Those with numbers that begin with TL are meant for that process.
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1256001936.4771=/html/catalog/bullmol2.html

After you look them over, you'll understand how they are different.

CM

Edubya
10-19-2009, 09:36 PM
Tumble lube; ease of use and cost of application. Groove lube accuracy and elimination of lead. IMHO.
EW

mooman76
10-19-2009, 10:09 PM
Lee TL bullets have more but shallower lube groves made to hold the lube Liquid Alox better. You can however use either bullet with either lube.

stubshaft
10-19-2009, 10:14 PM
Then you get to the Ranch Dog moulds that have TL grooves with GC. As stated you can use either type of lube with both boolits but I have found it better to use xlox with standard boolits rather than loob in TL boolits.

semtav
10-19-2009, 11:32 PM
The bullets meant for 'tumble lubing' are a Lee innovation.
Goto this Lee webpage and compare the appearances of various groups of bullets. Those with numbers that begin with TL are meant for that process.
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1256001936.4771=/html/catalog/bullmol2.html

After you look them over, you'll understand how they are different.

CM




Yea that makes it real clear. I was picturing maybe just shallower grooves and rounded shoulders, but NOT.

thanks

Shiloh
10-20-2009, 06:10 AM
The LEE TL Grooves aren't deep enough to get a good hold of conventional lubes.
I does work though, but defeats the purpose of TL lubing.

Conventional groove boolits work quite well. My experience is with handgun boolits only. Never have done it with rifle molds. Others have.

I love TL boolits. You can lube a mountain of boolits in a hurry.

SHiloh

Bret4207
10-20-2009, 07:37 AM
The bullets meant for 'tumble lubing' are a Lee innovation.
Goto this Lee webpage and compare the appearances of various groups of bullets. Those with numbers that begin with TL are meant for that process.
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1256001936.4771=/html/catalog/bullmol2.html

After you look them over, you'll understand how they are different.

CM

Charlie, I think it would be more accurate to say Lee stole the basic idea of the Loverin boolit and developed the tumble lubing part from some other guys. I don't recall the name of the product, but there was a lube that you dipped the boolit in long before Lees Mule Snot. Read about in Handloader. Lee just did what most inventors do and stole an idea here and there and came up with a "new" idea. To call it an "innovation" seems to give it more credit than is due. The innovation would be Lees ability to provide a good and sometimes superior product and bargain prices year after year. That is innovative!

Ricochet
10-20-2009, 09:52 AM
I think Ed Harris was the guy who came up with tumble lubing with liquid Alox and convinced Richard Lee it was great stuff. There's a story about it in Modern Reloading. I don't have my book here at work to check it out.

Ricochet
10-20-2009, 10:07 AM
I don't recall the name of the product, but there was a lube that you dipped the boolit in long before Lees Mule Snot.
And of course commercial .22 RF bullets have been dipped in wax solution since at least the 1930s.

montana_charlie
10-20-2009, 03:30 PM
Charlie, I think it would be more accurate to say Lee stole the basic idea...
To call it an "innovation" seems to give it more credit than is due.
Ho-hum, Bret.

I gave the guy a place where he could vsually compare the two groove styles.
Who thought of it first doesn't change the fact that Lee provides the moulds...in case he actually wants one...and they have the pictures for him to see.

As for who gets the credit...who cares?
Go back far enough and you'll likely find some old Chinaman rolling hand-carved wooden projectiles around in a pool of green tea, fish oil, and hummingbird sweat...

CM

Bret4207
10-20-2009, 06:55 PM
Not arguing, just get tired of seeing people credited for something they didn't really do.

XWrench3
10-21-2009, 08:23 AM
if you want innovation, figure out how to solidify STP so it could be used as a boolit lube ! LOL! in its liquid form, it make gorrila snot look like super glue.

mooman76
10-21-2009, 07:47 PM
Mix it with bees wax or parafine.

truckmsl
10-21-2009, 09:28 PM
I just recently switched from tumble lube to conventional lube boolits for my .40 semi auto and I'm surprised at how much lube gets blown back on the breach face and extractor. I didn't see this as much with the tumble lube.